There are only a handful of engine makers that power regular commercial aircraft
today. The main three are Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, and General
Electric. Each of these firms have their own efficiency and decarbonization strategies,
such as Rolls-Royce's recent hydrogen jet engine test in collaboration with easyJet.
However, with the advent of novel propulsion technologies, could airframe manufacturer
Airbus find itself entering the engine game? Let’s explore this in today’s video!
There is also a new type of engine maker carving out space for itself in the sustainable future of
flight. Several startups have already gotten quite far in testing hydrogen fuel-cell technology,
with, for instance, ZeroAvia gearing up for the first flight of its Dornier 228 testbed aircraft.
Airbus has partnered with CFM International (a joint project between GE Aviation and
Safran) to test direct hydrogen combustion technology. Meanwhile, in early December,
the European aerospace manufacturer revealed its own hydrogen fuel-cell technology engine.
For now, it is a matter of developing the technologies to make hydrogen-electric
propulsion a reality. However, when that is done, Airbus may decide to
bring in a partner - or it could decide to produce its own hydrogen-fueled powerplant.
While presenting the new fuel-cell project at the Airbus Summit in
Toulouse, the company's VP for Zero Emission Aircraft, Glenn Llewellyn, said,
"We're developing the methods for integrating those technologies into
a fuel cell-type engine. It doesn't mean that Airbus will do this on its
own in a subsequent step before we decide to commercialize that technology. We might
decide that that's the best approach. But we could easily also decide to partner."
Airbus is, of course, already partnering across its hydrogen propulsion technology ecosystem.
As we previously mentioned, CFM will ground and flight test hydrogen direct combustion technology
on Airbus' A380 ZEROe demonstrator aircraft. The engine maker will modify the combustor,
fuel system, and control system of a GE Passport turbofan to run on hydrogen.
While direct combustion technology would burn the hydrogen the same way other combustion engines
burn Jet A, fuel-cell engines generate electricity through an electrochemical
reaction. They differ from batteries in that they require a continuous source of fuel and oxygen.
Fuel-cell technology has been available to the automotive industry for some time. However,
what is sufficient for ground transport does not meet either the safety or the
efficiency requirements of aviation. In order to generate enough power, the fuel cells need
to be "stacked" together, which may incur a weight penalty for the overall system.
Airbus will be working on both direct combustion and fuel-cell technology as parallel pathways,
deciding on which will be the more likely to power the ZEROe aircraft
it does bring to market, if the timeline still stands, by 2035.
Llewellyn says that there are currently two parallel paths, stating: “We're exploring the
potential of those different technologies, but from a climate perspective, and from a
scalability technology perspective, and we are making the decisions later about what finally the
technology would be that we take to a commercial aircraft, but we're not at that point yet."
Do you think Airbus should eventually have a more serious role in producing the powerplants
that propel its aircraft? Let us know by leaving a comment!